Ipswich Town finally have their man.
Kieran McKenna and Mark Ashton have been trailing 23-year-old frontman George Hirst since the summer.
He was a leading target throughout that window and, when the lure of the Championship and Blackburn proved too strong, once parent club Leicester were willing to loan him out at the end of August, the Blues changed course.
Gassan Ahadme was signed on deadline day but, with Hirst potentially becoming available again this month, Ipswich’s interest remained.
It’s clear they like what they see in the striker, who netted 15 goals last season during his time at Portsmouth. He was particularly prolific during the season half of the season.
MORE: George Hirst's first Ipswich Town interview
Watching back his goals you will see a player who is comfortable firing home from inside the box, striking the ball first-time or attacking it with his head with a 6ft 4in frame. Crucially, given the way Ipswich play, he can make space to get on the end of cut-backs, too.
It’s also worth noting that Hirst and new Ipswich team-mate Marcus Harness combined directly for three goals at Portsmouth and struck up quite the partnership last season. That made them one of League One’s most prolific duos, with only seven combinations managing more than the Pompey pair.
They will hope to rekindle that in Suffolk.
Whether or not a striker should be signed feels as if it’s been debated since the middle of October (and probably before). Whether Hirst is the right one remains to be seen, of course.
But what isn’t in dispute is that Town CEO Ashton is being true to his word, making sure ‘nothing has been left on the table’ and there will be ‘no regrets’ at a time when Ipswich are so well-placed to win promotion to the Championship.
Town’s winter business won’t end with the captures of Hirst and Massimo Luongo, with a deal in the works for Nathan Broadhead of Everton.
The Blues already have Freddie Ladapo, Kayden Jackson, Gassan Ahadme, Conor Chaplin, Marcus Harness, Wes Burns, Kyle Edwards, Sone Aluko and the potential for Tyreece John-Jules to return in attacking areas.
Nothing is being left to chance.
Following in the footsteps
Hirst has a famous father.
He is the son of former England international and Sheffield Wednesday legend David Hirst, who won three caps for his country and is a true Hillsborough great, scoring more than 100 goals for the club and helping the Owls win the League Cup in 1991.
So he was perhaps destined to become a striker, just like his dad.
"When I was younger, I would walk around Hillsborough with my dad and everyone wanted their picture with him," the younger Hirst has said previously.
"I was looking at it thinking ‘he’s only my dad, why would you want a photograph?’
"But, as you grow up, you see videos and start to understand what impact he had. He’s a legend there, in my eyes especially.
"I don’t see it as a pressure because we are two completely different strikers.
"As much as people will make the comparisons naturally, my dad is 5ft 11in, even though he tells me he’s 6ft! I’m 6ft 4in. He’s left footed, I’m right footed.
"So straight away I don’t see the comparison at all, there are differences.”
Starting out... then frozen out
And, just like his dad did on so many occasions following his own move from Barnsley in 1986, the younger Hirst began his career in the blue and white stripes of Sheffield Wednesday.
He came through the youth system but ultimately only made two senior appearances for the Owls, both in 2016, before a hugely profitable 2017 saw him score 40 goals across the club’s age group teams.
But things were not well behind the scenes as a lengthy contract dispute began, which saw him frozen out at all levels with his club and ultimately led to a Hillsborough departure in acrimonious circumstances.
It all came amid interest from Leicester City, who were said to have had offers in the region of £2million turned down, and suggestions Hirst’s head had been turned.
Wednesday rejected Leicester’s advances, Hirst in turn rejected the Sheffield club’s contract offers and they went their separate ways at the end of his deal in 2019.
He didn’t, as you might perhaps have expected, join Leicester, though.
A move abroad
While there were suggestions of interest from Manchester United, Hirst made what looks like a surprising move on paper as he switched to the Belgian second tier with OH Leuven.
It’s a little less surprising, though, when you realise Leuven were Leicester’s sister club, also owned by the King Power group and employing former Foxes boss Nigel Pearson as manager.
Hirst signed a five-year deal in a move which limited the amount of compensation Wednesday were due, but he only spent one year in Belgium, scoring three goals in 23 matches.
“He is a really promising player with lots of potential,” Pearson said of Hirst’s Wednesday exit and his year in Belgium.
“Maybe there was too large a weight of expectation on him last season, but as an experience, it would have been excellent for him because he had a full year of senior first-team football.
“I think young players need to exposed to that as early as possible. The year at Sheffield Wednesday where they refused to play him killed the situation and also potentially set back his development.
“I don’t understand why things like that happened, but it happened. He certainly has lots of potential.”
Fox in the box
Hirst did eventually join Leicester following his season in Belgium, slotting into the Foxes’ Under 23s set-up and enjoying a solid debut campaign.
He netted nine goals in Premier League 2, scored three times for the young Leicester side which progressed to the knockout stages of the EFL Trophy and also came off the bench twice for the first-team in the Premier League, facing Tottenham and Manchester United.
That set him for the next stage of his development – a year in the Championship with Rotherham.
In a season played behind closed doors due to Covid, Hirst failed to net in 32 games for the Millers, only four of which were starts.
But manager Paul Warne had nothing but praise for the striker when the loan came to an end.
"I'd like to say on the record that George's attitude always stayed spot on,” he said. “He was a really grounded kid.
"He doesn't deserve any criticism and I think he will go on and have an amazing career.
"We were never in a position where we had plenty of points in the bank and I could take Smudge [Michael Smith] out of the team because Smudge was fundamental to our success.
"I feel sorry for George a little bit in that I didn't give him as much game-time as I possibly could have. But then players earn their game-time.
"At the end of the season, you'll see around eight players who have played 40-odd matches. They're probably the most consistent performers day in, day out.
"I have no doubt he will go on and be an amazing centre-forward. Unfortunately, this year didn't work out for him as well as we had all hoped it would."
Big break
By the time Hirst joined Portsmouth in the summer of 2021, at the age of 22, the youngster had plenty of experience under his belt following a rollercoaster few years.
Now it was time to put it to good use.
He started slowly but was motoring by the end, netting 13 times after Christmas during what proved to be an unsuccessful play-off charge.
"George needs to look in the mirror sometimes and realise what he is capable of,” Danny Cowley said during Hirst’s loan.
"It’s about giving him confidence, which all players need to play at their best. George has been a real positive and I have been really pleased with him.”
Reflecting on his loan, Hirst said: “I’m forever grateful to them (Portsmouth) for the opportunity to go and pull their shirt on and play in front of the local fans every week because they were brilliant with me.
“Having 20,000 at Fratton Park has just made me so hungry for more of it. From start to finish, they gave me all their support. When they are on your side, there’s no better feeling.
“Going to League One, it was probably the perfect time for me to showcase my ability and show everyone what I can do. I feel like I did that on the most part.”
Another struggle
After a summer in 2022 where he looked to prove himself to Rodgers and was courted by both former club Portsmouth, as well as Ipswich, Hirst’s next stop was a loan to Blackburn.
Before then, he signed a contract extension with the Foxes until the summer of 2025.
It quickly became clear it was going to be difficult, given his lack of a pre-season with Leicester and the fact he missed a last-minute penalty at Cardiff in one of his first games.
From there, he dropped out of matchday squads and ultimately only played 11 times.
"George is a good lad, a brilliant lad," Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson said. "We also know he didn't have a pre-season and that has been biting him a little bit.
"We have tried to get him going with gametime in that way. Now he has played 90 minutes for the 21s the other day, that was the first time more or less for the whole season.
"When he finished at Portsmouth he only had one pre-season game with Leicester. That is the difficulty when you get players in late that they are missing a good pre-season and also a proper training way and learning how we do things.
"He is working hard and he is a very positive lad. I am sure he will get fitter and fitter to get minutes. I think everyone understands it but we can forget the importance of pre-season.”
Numbers game
Hirst will wear the No.27 shirt at Portman Road – there's certainly some history there.
Much has been made of Town’s striker search and comparisons have regularly been made between now and Ipswich’s last promotion back in 2000.
The Blues signed a striker then who ultimately made the difference and helped get them over the line – Marcus Stewart.
And what number did the Town legend wear back then? You got it. Twenty seven.
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